By Ling Hui
KUCHING, August 6: Petronas is going to pay an estimated RM2.8 to RM3 billion in State Sales Tax (SST) for Sarawak’s oil and gas for the year 2019.
De facto Law Minister Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali revealed this figure today, adding that the annual payment of SST imposed will be about the same for the following years.
“It will be about the same each year after 2019, but it will be according to the world’s oil price.
“This is sales tax, so if the sales is higher, there will be more tax incurred,” said Sharifah Hasidah when she officiated at the site handover ceremony to upgrade Jalan Tan Sri Abang Ikhwan Zaini here today.
Sarawak imposed a five per cent sales tax on all petroleum products in the state in January 2019 on their share of oil revenue under the State Sales Ordinance 1998.
All petroleum companies operating in Sarawak paid up except Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), prompting Sarawak to file a RM1.3 billion civil suit.
Petronas then filed a judicial review application against the State Comptroller challenging Sarawak’s right to impose the said tax on its petroleum related products.
On Monday (Aug 3), Petronas decided not to fight the SST and withdrew its appeal at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya against the Kuching High Court ruling that Sarawak is entitled to collect sales tax on petroleum products.
Today, a Consent Order which was signed all parties was submitted to the Kuching High Court to withdraw all actions, thus amicably settling the issue. Petronas has agreed to pay SST and has identified seven of its subsidiaries to make the payments to the Sarawak government.
However, Sharifah Hasidah reiterated that this is only an estimated figure whereby the actual amount of SST to be paid will need to take into consideration other components such as actual sales, interest and penalties.
“These will have to be calculated in detail. I cannot say for sure because it is still in computation,” she said. — DayakDaily
